The present invention relates in general to apparatus used in fabricating semiconductor wafers and, more particularly, to a high-performance electrostatic clamp comprising a resistive layer, micro-grooves, and dielectric layer.
There are several applications in the semiconductor manufacturing industry that require an electrostatic clamp (“ESC”) having significantly higher performance characteristics than existing ESCs. The application with the most challenging requirements is the SIMOX Ion Shower, which requires a heat transfer coefficient (“HTC”) of greater than or about 200 mW/Kcm2 and HTC uniformity (up to within 3 mm of the edge of a semiconductor wafer) of less than or about 1%. Another application with high ESC requirements is that of the high current serial implanter, which also requires a HTC of greater than or about 200 mW/Kcm2 (with a somewhat relaxed uniformity requirement), but which also requires a response time of less than or about 1 second and gas leakage of less than or about 0.5 sccm.
Consequently, the inventors have recognized a need for improvements in ESC design.